Purgatory

Macmillan Encyclopedia of Death and Dying
COPYRIGHT 2002 The Gale Group Inc.

Purgatory

From the third century onward, Christian theologians developed a theory of psychic postdeath purification on the basis of the words of St. Paul: "Fire shall try every person's work." He continues by saying that those who have built their lives upon shoddy foundations "shall be saved, yet saved through fire" (1 Cor. 3:11–15). Paul's was a doctrine of postdeath purification that was shared with late Judaism and early rabbinic thought. From the beginning of their organized existence, therefore, both the synagogue and the early Christian church prayed extensively for their dead, and many of the most ancient prayers to this effect are still found in the liturgies of the Greek and Latin churches.

Several early theologians reflected on the obscurities of the primitive Christian teaching on the state of the soul after death and deduced that between the death of the individual and the final judgment at the end of time there would be an intermediate state. During this state the souls of the dead inhabited a place where, according to their deeds, they were either happy or wretched. Those souls who required purification of their past lives would experience the purifying fire (in Latin purgatorium ) more drastically than those who were more advanced in holiness before their death. The Greek theologians generally regarded the posthumous purification by fire in the "spiritual" or symbolic sense of psychic transfiguration into a higher condition. Clement and Origen of Alexandria had
envisaged that the soul of the departed would be made to learn all the things it had refused to learn on the earth through the strenuous ministrations of correcting angels until it had been purified enough to ascend closer to God. The fourth-century teacher Gregory of Nyssa expressed the idea more generically: "We must either be purified in the present life by prayer and the love of wisdom (philosophias ) or, after our departure from this world, in the furnace of the purifying fire." And Gregory of Nazianzus, his contemporary, writes in his poetry of the "fearful river of fire" that will purify the sinner after death.

The idea of purgatorium as a place of after-death purification distinct from the finality of the place of the elect and the damned (heaven or hell) that would be determined by God only on Judgment Day was put forward as a learned opinion by leading Western theologians, particularly Jerome, Augustine, and Gregory the Great. These thinkers seemed to wish more than the Easterners to bring some systematic order into the diffuse doctrine of the afterlife and judgment. It was Pope Gregory in the seventh century who elevated the opinion of the earlier thinkers into a more or less formulated doctrine: "Purgatorial fire will cleanse every elect soul before they come into the Last Judgement." So began the divergent thought that developed over the course of centuries between the Byzantines and Latins.

The Eastern Christian world retained a simpler doctrine of the afterlife that maintained that the souls of the elect, even those who were not particularly holy, would be retained in "a place of light, a place of refreshment, a place from which all sorrow and sighing have been banished." This view reflected the statement in Revelation 14:13 that "those who die in the Lord rest from their labors." In short, the state of afterlife as it was envisaged in the Eastern church was generally a happy and restful condition in which the departed souls of the faithful were not divorced from God, but waited on Judgment Day with hopeful anticipation, as the time when they would be admitted to a transfigured and paradisial condition in proximity to God.

The Latin church, on the other hand, developed its doctrine of purgatory with a more marked stress on that state of painful purification that would attend the souls of all those who had not reached a state of purity before their death.

In the tradition of both churches, the state of the souls after death called out to the living to assist them in prayers, both public and private, so that God would show them mercy. In the tenth century, under the influence of Odilo of Cluny, the Feast of All Souls (November 2) was established in the Western calendar as a time when the living prayed for the release from sufferings of all departed Christians. The popularity of this feast helped to fix the idea of purgatory in the religious imagination of Latin Christians. After the twelfth century, Western theology further rationalized the state and purpose of purgatory in arguing that it was a cleansing by fire of the lesser sins and faults committed by Christians (venial sins), and the payment of the debt of "temporal punishment," which medieval theologians taught was still owed by those who had committed grave offenses (mortal sins) even though the penalty of such sins (condemnation to an eternity in hell) had been remitted by God before death. The later rationalization for purgatory, therefore, stood in close relation to the
highly developed Western church's penitential theory, as the latter had devolved from feudal ideas of penal debt and remission. The theological tendency is best seen in the work of the scholastic theologian Anselm, who reflects on the nature of eternal penalties incurred by mortals who offend against the prescripts of the deity, in his influential study of the atonement Cur Deus Homo (On Why God was Made Man), published in 1098.

Purgatory, as it developed in the West through the later Middle Ages, became more and more of a dismal idea, linked to the understanding of redemption as a penal substitutionary sacrifice, and increasingly distanced from the early Christian notion that the redemption represented God's glorious victory given as a gift to liberate the world. The medieval obsession with the state of the souls after death led to a flourishing of legends and popular narratives of the sufferings of the souls in purgatory. They were, in a sense, the prelude to the greatest medieval work of graphic imagination relating to the subject, Dante's Purgatory, the second book of the Divine Comedy. Mystics such as Catherine of Genoa also made it a central theme of their visionary teachings, further fixing the idea in the Western mind. In the medieval Latin church the desire to assist the departed souls in their time of sorrow led to a thriving demand for masses and intercessions for the dead, and for "indulgences," which were held to lessen the time of suffering that the souls in purgatory would be required to undergo. This led soon enough to the concept of purgatory being one of the early points of contention in the great religious crisis known subsequently as the Reformation.

Protestant theologians rejected the doctrine of purgatory as one of their first public departures from medieval theological speculation, and the English church censured the "Romish doctrine of Purgatory" outright in its Article 22. The Orthodox churches had much earlier censured the whole idea when ecumenical union was being contemplated in the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries. On each occasion, the Latin Church defended its position in conciliar statements (the Council of Lyons in 1274 and the Council of Florence in 1439). The rejection of the idea by the Reformation teachers led to its defense once again in the sixteenth-century Council of Trent, which led to renewed focus on the idea of purgatory as a distinguishing mark of the authority of the Roman Catholic Church in the domain of defining dogmas not clearly distinguished in the scriptural accounts.

As an idea it lives on in Dante's writings, and in dramatic poems such as John Henry Newman's nineteenth-century "Dream of Gerontius." As a religious factor it is still very much alive in Western Catholicism in the celebration of various Feasts of the Dead, and in the liturgical commemorations of the departed on November 2. Modern Roman Catholic theology, after Trent, has clearly moved away from emphasizing the purifying pains of purgatorial fire and instead highlights the need for the living to commemorate the dead who have preceded them.

See also: Afterlife in Cross-Cultural Perspective; Heaven; Hell

Bibliography

Atwell, Robert. "From Augustine to Gregory the Great: An Evaluation of the Emergence of the Doctrine of Purgatory." Journal of Ecclesiastical History 38 (1987):173–186.

Purgatory

Purgatory

Purgatory comes from the Latin word, purgatio, which means purification, cleansing or expiation. Many religions affirm the need for moral and spiritual purification. Purgatory, though, is chiefly identified with the Catholic doctrine that maintains, first, that some souls after death require purification (purgatio ) before reaching heaven, and second, that the prayers and intercessions of the living can assist souls in purgatory.

The word purgatory as such, is not found in the Bible, though variations of katharsis, the Greek equivalent of purgatio, can be found (e.g., katharoi, Matt 5:8, and katharismou, 2 Pet. 1:9). Church fathers such as Augustine (354–430) found support for purgatory in 2 Maccabees 12:43–46, a passage (not considered canonical by Protestants) that mentions an expiatory sacrifice offered in the temple to atone for the sins of Jewish soldiers who died wearing pagan amulets. The inference is that there is expiation for some sins after death.

Various Church fathers, such as Gregory of Nyssa (c. 330–395), affirmed a postmortem purgation by “purifying fire” (tou katharsíou purós ) based on 1 Corinthians 3:11–15 (some will be saved “only as through fire”). Patristic writers such as Augustine and Pope Gregory I (c. 540–604) also believed that Matthew 12:32 implies that certain sins will only be forgiven in the age to come (i.e., after death).

Under the influence of neo-Platonism, some early Christian writers, such as Origen (c. 185–254), suggested an ongoing purification after death leading to a universal restoration (apokatastasis ) of all humans (and possibly demons) with God. The local Council of Constantinople condemned apokatastasis in 543.

The doctrine of purgatory underwent more systematic development in the West than in the East. As its penitential system developed, Latin theology saw purgatory as the postmortem expiation of the temporal punishment due to sins. According to this theology, temporal effects or “punishments” of sin (e.g., wounds to oneself and others) remain even after the guilt (culpa ) of sin is taken away by confession. Such temporal “punishments” require penances for adequate purification, satisfaction, or expiation. When the temporal effects of sin have not been purified prior to death, the person must undergo purgatory.

Because penances during the Middle Ages were often severe, the Church offered various indulgences, that is, extrasacramental ways (e.g., prayers, pilgrimages, and almsgiving) for gaining remission of the temporal punishments due to sin. These indulgences were granted by the Church via her access to the “treasury” of the merits of Christ and the saints. The faithful could apply these indulgences to themselves for their own purification or to souls in purgatory by means of suffrage or intercession (per modum suffragii ).

Although purgatory was often seen as a temporary hell, the Italian poet Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) offered a more positive understanding of the doctrine. In the Purgatorio, the second part of his Divine Comedy, Dante describes the purifying rather than penal aspects of punishment. The souls ascend “Mount Purgatory” while receiving penances, practicing virtues, and reciting prayers designed to purge the root causes of the seven capital sins. Those in “lower purgatory” are purified of sins or vices related to “love perverted,” namely pride, envy, and wrath. Those in “mid-purgatory” overcome sloth, which is associated with “love defective.” Finally, those in “upper purgatory” are purged of “love excessive,” linked to the sins of avarice, gluttony, and lust. For Dante, the purpose of purgatory is the interior purification of one’s love for God and neighbor before entering heaven.

Only the Roman Catholic Church teaches purgatory as dogma. The Profession of Faith, read before the Second Council of Lyons (1274), distinguished between the souls who go immediately to hell after death, those who go immediately to heaven, and those who die in charity but are cleansed after death by “purgatorial and cleansing penalties” (poenis purgatoriis seu catharteriis ). The Council of Florence repeated this doctrine in 1439 and reaffirmed that sacrifices of the mass, as well as prayers and offerings of the faithful, can alleviate the penalties of those in purgatory. In the wake of the Protestant denial of the doctrine, the Council of Trent, in 1563, upheld the reality of purgatory but warned bishops to exclude from popular sermons “the more difficult and subtle questions” not useful for edification and to prohibit all that belongs to curiosity, superstition, or unseemly gain.

The Catholic Church has never defined purgatory as a specific place. The exact nature and duration of the purgatorial punishments is open to speculation, and some, such as Catherine of Genoa (1447–1510), describe the fire of purgatory as the fire of God’s love. Traditional Catholic theology specifies two forms of suffering in purgatory: the pain of loss (poena damni ), because of the temporary deprivation of heaven; and the pain of sense (poena sensus ), experienced by souls in a manner analogous to sensible pain. Whatever suffering the souls in purgatory experience is mitigated by their assurance of heaven once their purification is complete. The common Catholic teaching is that, after the general judgment, there will be only heaven and hell, and purgatory will cease.

The Protestant Reformers of the sixteenth century rejected purgatory as an unscriptural doctrine that obscures the atonement of Christ as the only satisfaction for sin. Moreover, they linked purgatory to “false practices” such as indulgences, private masses, and prayers for the dead.

The Eastern Orthodox churches have prayers for the departed in their liturgies, but they have never defined purgatory as a doctrine. Several Orthodox confessions of faith, such as the original ones of Peter Moghila (1596–1647), the metropolitan of Kiev, and Dositheus (1641–1707), the patriarch of Jerusalem, affirmed the reality of postmortem purification. Some Orthodox theologians have also posited the existence of two hells, one for the damned and another for those needing further purification. Still others have mentioned a middle state of souls after death (mesi katastasis ), where they receive comfort from the prayers of the living. In general, though, Eastern Orthodox churches regard the whole matter as too mysterious for dogmatic formulations.

The Catholic Church continues to teach the reality of purgatory. Vatican II (1962–1965) and the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992/1997), however, limit themselves to general affirmations of postmortem purification through the grace of God (cf. Vatican II’s Lumen Gentium, 49 and the Catechism, 1030 and 1472).

purgatory

The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.

Copyright The Columbia University Press

purgatory (pûrg´ətôr´ē) [Lat.,=place of purging], in the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, the state after death in which the soul destined for heaven is purified. Since only the perfect can enjoy the vision of God (inferred from Mat. 12.36; Rev. 21.17), and some die in grace who have still unpunished or unrepented minor sins on their conscience, they must be purged of such sins. Those who have suffered already (especially the martyrs) may have undergone much or all of their punishment. Souls in purgatory are members of the church along with the living and the blessed in heaven and may be helped, as in life, by the prayers and works of their fellow members. This unity is the communion of saints. Prayers for the dead are therefore commonplace in Roman Catholic life; one form is the requiem Mass (see also indulgence). The duration of time and the nature of the state of purgatory are not defined; the suffering is different in kind from that of hell, for the soul in purgatory knows that his punishment is temporary. The ancient Jews prayed for the dead (2 Mac. 12.43–46), and the Christians continued the practice, holding the concomitant belief in a middle state between life and heaven. The Eastern Orthodox Church maintains this position without adopting the Western terms developed in the Middle Ages. Protestants have generally abandoned it.

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purgatory

pur·ga·to·ry
/ ˈpərgəˌtôrē/
•
n.
(pl. -ries)
(in Roman Catholic doctrine) a place or state of suffering inhabited by the souls of sinners who are expiating their sins before going to heaven. ∎
mental anguish or suffering:
this was purgatory, worse than anything she'd faced in her life.•
adj. archaic
having the quality of cleansing or purifying:
infernal punishments are purgatory and medicinal.DERIVATIVES:pur·ga·to·ri·al
/ ˌpərgəˈtôrēəl/ adj.

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Purgatory

Purgatory. According to Catholic teaching, the place or state in which those who have died in the grace of God expiate their unforgiven venial sins, by undergoing due punishment before being admitted to the beatific vision. Scriptural warrant is claimed in 2 Maccabees 12. 39–45; Matthew 12. 31 f.; 1 Corinthians 3. 11–15. The doctrine of purgatory was openly rejected at the Reformation, and Protestants deny it as unscriptural and a denial of the complete forgiveness of sins through faith in Christ's saving work.

purgatory

purgatory (in Catholic doctrine) a place or state of suffering inhabited by the souls of sinners who are expiating their sins before going to heaven. Recorded from Middle English, the word ultimately comes (via Anglo-Norman French or medieval Latin) from late Latin purgatorius ‘purifying’.

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purgatory

purgatory Place or state intermediate between heaven and hell where a soul that has died in a state of grace is purged of its sins before entering heaven. In the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, souls that die with unforgiven venial and forgiven mortal sins go to purgatory.

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